Accused Russian spies

July 8, 2010 12:00 AM

Photo: AP

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MIKHAIL SEMENKO
Semenko of Arlington, Va., worked at the Travel All Russia travel agency in Arlington leading up to his arrest.
Semenko attended Amur State University on Russia's border with China, where he was enrolled in a Chinese studies program. It was there he met Slava Shirokov, owner of the travel agency that eventually employed Semenko.
After arriving in the U.S., he received a graduate degree from Seton Hall University in New Jersey. Shirokov said Semenko liked to attend functions at the Russian embassy and talked about landing a job in international relations. He was charged with conspiracy to act as a foreign agent. less

MIKHAIL SEMENKO
Semenko of Arlington, Va., worked at the Travel All Russia travel agency in Arlington leading up to his arrest. Semenko attended Amur State University on Russia's border with China, where he ... more

ANNA CHAPMAN
Her attorney, Robert Baum, said Chapman, branded a femme fatale, had visited the United States on and off since 2005 before settling in Manhattan to start a business that's worth $2 million.
Prosecutors say Chapman would use a specially configured laptop computer to transmit messages to another computer of an unnamed Russian official.
She was arrested at a New York Police Department precinct after turning in a fake passport an undercover FBI agent had given to her. She has been charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent. less

ANNA CHAPMAN
Her attorney, Robert Baum, said Chapman, branded a femme fatale, had visited the United States on and off since 2005 before settling in Manhattan to start a business that's worth $2 million. ... more

TRACEY LEE ANN FOLEY (left)DONALD HOWARD HEATHFIELD (in orange)
Foley lived in Cambridge, Mass., and is married to Donald Howard Heathfield. The couple has two sons, Tim Foley, 20, a student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and Alex Foley, 16, a student at the International School of Boston.
Foley was a real estate agent who showed houses in the Boston area. She worked on a contract basis for the real estate brokerage Redfin.
She was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
Heathfield graduated from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government with a master's in public administration in 2000.
Heathfield worked as a sales consultant at Global Partners Inc., a Cambridge-based international consulting and management development firm. He also had his own consulting company, Future Map Strategic Advisory Services LLC.
Prosecutors said Heathfield met in 2004 with an employee of the U.S. government to discuss nuclear weapons research. He was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

TRACEY LEE ANN FOLEY (left)DONALD HOWARD HEATHFIELD (in orange)
Foley lived in Cambridge, Mass., and is married to Donald Howard Heathfield. The couple has two sons, Tim Foley, 20, a student at George ... more

PATRICIA MILLS (with Mikhail Semenko)
Mills is the assumed name for Natalia Pereverzeva, living in the United States with Mikhail Kutsik, who used the name Michael Zottoli. Like Kutsik, she held a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Washington, obtained in 2006.
Neighbors describe the two as a smiling, attractive couple raising a young son and toddler in an Arlington, Va., high-rise apartment.
They moved to northern Virginia last year from Seattle. The two children are being cared for by family friends on the West Coast at the couple's request, according to Arlington County social services.
She was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

PATRICIA MILLS (with Mikhail Semenko)
Mills is the assumed name for Natalia Pereverzeva, living in the United States with Mikhail Kutsik, who used the name Michael Zottoli. Like Kutsik, she held a bachelor's ... more

MICHAEL ZOTTOLI (with Patricia Mills)
Zottoli is the assumed name for Mikhail Kutsik, who was living as part of a married couple with Natalia Pereverzeva, purporting to be Patricia Mills.
In Seattle, he worked at Premier Global Services, Inc., a telecommunications firm, from 2007 to 2009. Zottoli earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Washington in 2006. He and Mills moved to northern Virginia last year.
After his arrest, he and his purported wife admitted that Zottoli and Mills were assumed names and provided their real names, which had not been known at the time of their arrest.
He was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The couple have two young children. less

MICHAEL ZOTTOLI (with Patricia Mills)
Zottoli is the assumed name for Mikhail Kutsik, who was living as part of a married couple with Natalia Pereverzeva, purporting to be Patricia Mills. In Seattle, he ... more

CHRISTOPHER METSOS
Metsos is the suspected paymaster for the U.S. spy ring. He was arrested June 29 in Cyprus on an Interpol warrant as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary. Released on $33,000 bail a day later, he promptly disappeared and is now a fugitive.
Canadian authorities said he was traveling as a 54-year-old tourist on a Canadian passport that stole the identity of a boy who died at age 5.
He has been charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

CHRISTOPHER METSOS
Metsos is the suspected paymaster for the U.S. spy ring. He was arrested June 29 in Cyprus on an Interpol warrant as he tried to board a flight for Budapest, Hungary. Released on $33,000 ... more

VICKY PELAEZ
Married to Juan Lazaro, Pelaez was born in Peru. She worked in New York City as a columnist for one of the United States' best-known Spanish-language newspapers, El Diario La Prensa.
Pelaez turned her 1984 kidnapping by a leftist guerrilla group in Peru into a chance to get an interview with one of its leaders.
A magistrate judge last week had approved a $250,000 bail package for Pelaez, but the government is appealing and Pelaez was ordered to remain in detention until that appeal is heard. That hearing is set for Friday for Pelaez, an American citizen.
The couple have a teen son, Juan Lazaro Jr., a gifted pianist. Pelaez also has a 38-year-old son from a previous marriage.
She was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

VICKY PELAEZ
Married to Juan Lazaro, Pelaez was born in Peru. She worked in New York City as a columnist for one of the United States' best-known Spanish-language newspapers, El Diario La Prensa. Pelaez ... more

Photo: AP

VICKY PELAEZ
Married to Juan Lazaro, Pelaez was born in Peru.... Photo-1251272.18102 - Houston Chronicle

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JUAN LAZARO
A photographer, Lazaro said he was born in Uruguay and is a Peruvian citizen. He studied at the New School for Social Research, now called The New School, a university in Manhattan. He taught a class on Latin American and Caribbean politics at Baruch College, also in Manhattan, for a short time in 2008.
But prosecutors say he has admitted that the name Juan Lazaro is fake, that he wasn't born in the South American country and that he is not a citizen of Peru.
They also say he has admitted that his wife, Vicky Pelaez, passed letters to the Russian intelligence service on his behalf and that his home in Yonkers, N.Y., had been paid for by Russian intelligence.
He was charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

JUAN LAZARO
A photographer, Lazaro said he was born in Uruguay and is a Peruvian citizen. He studied at the New School for Social Research, now called The New School, a university in Manhattan. He taught a ... more

Photo: Elizabeth Williams, AP

JUAN LAZARO
A photographer, Lazaro said he was born in Uruguay... Photo-1251273.18102 - Houston Chronicle

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CYNTHIA MURPHY
Married to Richard Murphy, the couple lived in a suburban neighborhood in Montclair, N.J., with their daughters, Kate, 11, and Lisa, 9. The family had been in the U.S. since the 1990s.
Murphy worked for Morea Financial Services, a lower Manhattan-based accounting firm that offered tax advice, earning $135,000 a year, and had recently earned her MBA.
Robert Baum, the attorney representing another defendant in the case, Anna Chapman, has said that Cynthia Murphy was being held in isolation, claims prison officials have declined to comment on.
She has been charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

CYNTHIA MURPHY
Married to Richard Murphy, the couple lived in a suburban neighborhood in Montclair, N.J., with their daughters, Kate, 11, and Lisa, 9. The family had been in the U.S. since the 1990s. Murphy ... more

RICHARD MURPHY (left, with Cynthia Murphy)
Murphy, with his wife, Cynthia, are the parents of two daughters, Kate, 11, and Lisa, 9. The family, who lived in a suburban neighborhood in Montclair, N.J., had been in the U.S. since the 1990s.
Neighbors say Richard mostly stayed home with the children, caring for them and the home, while his wife worked a well-paying job in New York City.
He has been charged with conspiring to act as a foreign agent and conspiracy to commit money laundering. less

RICHARD MURPHY (left, with Cynthia Murphy)
Murphy, with his wife, Cynthia, are the parents of two daughters, Kate, 11, and Lisa, 9. The family, who lived in a suburban neighborhood in Montclair, N.J., had been ... more